Last night I moved an overnight bag, my knives, and my Calphalon over to Jeff's. A bit of a head start. We stopped by the Farmer's Market, where the nice man at the key shop sharpened my chef's knife for a dollar. (I had called Sur La Table, who wanted to charge me 50 cents an inch. We're both unemployed and have to be as frugal as we can.) For dinner we made cashew chicken a la an old recipe from Mark Bittman's Minimalist column. I used to make this chicken so much that it was taped to the inside of a kitchen cabinet in my very first apartment.

Trader Joe's, as Trader Joe's is unfortunately wont to do, no longer makes their hoisin sauce. We used Thai peanut sauce instead (perhaps rendering the cashews irrelevant, but in my world, cashews are never irrlevant) and it was very tasty. How I lived without Sally Schneider's oven baked rice method, I do not know.

Jeff has taken a new attitude towards my Calphalon- he has put it with my knives in the category of "things I am too sensitive over for him to wash." Pretty sneaky. But the Calphalon, despite not being non-stick (non-stick is, in my mind, like food processor mayonnaise- something for pansies) cleans up easily, even with baked on rice.

After dinner we sat on the sofa and watched tv before switching to reading. It was cozy and warm and nice.

Tomorrow I start work, too. A pattern of living is falling back into place.